Energy, Sustainability and Society最新文献

{"title":"Effect of fuel injection pressure on the performances of a CI engine using water-emulsified diesel (WED) as a fuel","authors":"Pijush Kanti Mondal,&nbsp;Bijan Kumar Mandal","doi":"10.1186/s13705-024-00442-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-024-00442-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The choice of energy sources is essential for sustainable development to combat different environmental issues caused by the consumption of fossil fuels. Though diesel engines are considered more efficient and reliable than other internal combustion engines, they emit different harmful pollutants which are detrimental to human health and the environment. Researchers are trying to find suitable alternative fuels for diesel engines with lower pollutant emissions and without much compromise in the efficiency of the engine. In this regard, water-emulsified diesel (WED) may be considered to be one of the most suitable alternative fuels. It is expected that the entire world will use electric vehicles in the long term. However, the complete replacement of IC engines in the near future is not feasible. In fact, different European countries have targeted to ban the use of diesel engine cars before the middle of the twenty-first century. Prior to that date, hybrid vehicles will be more popular and diesel engines will continue to play an important role. Hence, research involving improvements in diesel-operated IC engines is still relevant.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>An experimental investigation was carried out using WED containing 10% water by volume as a fuel in a diesel engine at four different fuel injection pressures. The WED was prepared using an ultrasonicator.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>With the increase of injection pressure, peak net heat release rate and in-cylinder pressure are found to have increased. Brake thermal efficiency is also found to have improved at higher injection pressure. The maximum efficiency was recorded when a WED at 210 bar of injection pressure is used, and it is about 3.3% higher than the maximum efficiency achieved when using normal diesel at the same pressure of fuel injection. At a higher load, neat brake-specific fuel consumption is found to be less compared to neat diesel, when only the amount of diesel contained in the emulsion as a fuel is considered. Maximum reduction in both NO_x and smoke emission by using WED is recorded at 210 bar, and the average reductions are determined to be 32.6% and 51.9%, respectively.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>WED can be used as an alternative fuel for existing diesel engines without any retrofitting and with significant reduction in the emissions of pollutants compared to normal diesel fuel. It can also be concluded that at higher injection pressure, the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of compression ignition engines are improved when using emulsified diesel.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-024-00442-7","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139554973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Renewable energy as a connecting spot between China and Central and Eastern European countries: status, directions and perspectives","authors":"Nevena Šekarić Stojanović,&nbsp;Katarina Zakić","doi":"10.1186/s13705-024-00439-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-024-00439-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Considering energy- and climate-related policies adopted, the European Union and the People’s Republic of China are expected to be on the same trajectory of reducing pollution, aiming for carbon neutrality in 2050 and 2060, respectively. However, although they share a common goal of more sustainable development, their targets and means often collide. The main objective of the study is to identify the main similarities and differences in approaches to energy and climate policies in the European Union and the People’s Republic of China, with special attention given to the scope, past, present, and future of Chinese investments in renewable energy projects in the countries of the Central and Eastern European region, and to reveal the prevailing factors of the (un)successful renewable energy projects in those countries eventually. The methods used are literature review and qualitative content analysis of the European Union’s and the People’s Republic of China’s energy- and climate-related policies according to the prescribed indicators (from 2005 onwards) and in-depth exploratory desk research of cooperation in renewable energy projects between the People’s Republic of China and 14 Central and Eastern European Countries (from 2014 onwards).</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The study showed that despite the significant alignment of the European Union’s and the People’s Republic of China’s energy- and climate-related policies on a normative level, renewable energy cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and Central and Eastern European countries on a practical level is moderate. This <i>state of play</i> mainly results from political factors, such as rising levels of Sino-scepticism and the overall deterioration of the European Union–People’s Republic of China relations.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The study showed that political rather than economic or legal factors had a great impact on the Chinese presence in the domain of renewable energy in the countries of the Central and Eastern European region. However, the significant alignment of the European Union’s and the People’s Republic of China’s energy- and climate-related policies and dedication to common energy transition targets offer room for improving renewable energy cooperation. Overcoming political and economic divergences imposes a condition for achieving better cooperation in the renewable energy domain.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-024-00439-2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139494380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"One step closer: Laypeople’s perception of production steps for manufacturing CO2-based jet fuel","authors":"Linda Engelmann,&nbsp;Katrin Arning,&nbsp;Martina Ziefle","doi":"10.1186/s13705-024-00441-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-024-00441-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The need for greenhouse gas abatement measures grows as climate change threatens life on earth. Negative emission technologies, such as carbon capture and utilization (CCU), can reduce emissions from the transport sector, particularly aviation. However, the lack of support and low public acceptance can impact the successful introduction of new technologies. This study analyzes the factors that influence acceptance of the single production steps (capture, purification, conversion, and transport of CO₂) of production of CO₂-based jet fuels to identify acceptance hot spots and potential roll-out barriers.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>In a quantitative survey with <i>n</i> = 543 German respondents, we find that transport of CO₂ in comparison with capture, purification, and conversion of CO₂ into hydrocarbons is perceived as less acceptable, efficient, and useful, more expensive as well as damaging for the environment and health. Furthermore, product-step specific risk perceptions, as well as benefit and barrier perceptions for CCU mainly predict people’s attitude towards the four production steps. A cluster-analysis revealed two groups, “Approvers” and “Sceptics”, which were characterized by distinctive perception profiles. Further analysis showed that sustainability (e.g., use of renewable energy) and efficiency (e.g., carbon removal and resource use) were of greater importance to Approvers.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The study’s results suggest the need for further research and information provision to enhance public understanding of the technology and its role as a part of circular economy approaches. Risk perceptions play a central role in determining attitudes towards CCU, which should be considered in future studies and communication strategies. The findings can inform policymakers, industry stakeholders, and communication experts working to promote sustainable aviation fuel technologies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-024-00441-8","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139488271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solar-assisted poultry production in small-scale farms: a case study in the Bekaa semi-arid region, Lebanon","authors":"Sara T. Sleem,&nbsp;Darine A. Salam,&nbsp;Nesreen Ghaddar,&nbsp;Kamel Abou Ghali,&nbsp;Ghassan Chehab,&nbsp;Nuhad Daghir,&nbsp;Youssef Doughan,&nbsp;Nicolas Haddad","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00437-w","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00437-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>In Lebanon, poultry production is one of the major components of the agricultural sector; however, it suffers from increasing energy costs necessary to cover poultry heating requirements. This affects the profits of brooding farms, namely, small-scale farms in rural areas. Few studies have addressed the use of renewable energy in the poultry industry in Lebanon, with most having focused on modelling ventilation and air quality requirements in poultry houses. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the efficiency of renewable energy sources in providing heating requirements for poultry production. Accordingly, this study evaluates the performance of a solar-assisted, localized heating system in providing heat requirements for chicks in a renovated green poultry house in the Bekaa semi-arid rural region in Lebanon. For this aim, two brooding cycles were conducted during the warm and cold seasons in a greenhouse and were later replicated in a conventional poultry house.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>The energy inputs in the green and conventional houses, respectively, were 33,995.39 and 40,656.97 MJ (1000 birds)⁻¹ in the warm season, and 37,058.25 and 45,770.05 MJ (1000 birds)⁻¹ in the cold season. Calculated energy efficiency values for the green and conventional poultry houses were, respectively, 0.58 and 0.50 in the warm season, and 0.46 and 0.41 in the cold season. The net return was negative for both systems and the benefit-to-cost ratio from broiler production was calculated to be 0.49 and 0.50 in the green and conventional houses, respectively. Life cycle cost analysis showed that adopting the green heating system in the studied farm would entail an 18.89% increase in cost over a period of 20 years as compared to the conventional system.</p><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>It was concluded that poultry production is not profitable in small-scale farms in the studied area in Lebanon. The use of renewable energy might be more suited for large-scale broiler operations to achieve their purpose in reducing overall production costs. Optimization of the green system to fully satisfy the poultry energy requirements would render it more economically competitive.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00437-w","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139430932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Photovoltaics in agricultural landscapes: “Industrial land use” or a “real compromise” between renewable energy and biodiversity? Perspectives of German nature conservation associations","authors":"Janna Marie Hilker,&nbsp;Maria Busse,&nbsp;Klaus Müller,&nbsp;Jana Zscheischler","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00431-2","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00431-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>One common renewable energy source for substituting fossil sources is photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, installing PV systems in agricultural areas can lead to competition with other land uses. These projects, therefore, often encounter problems with social acceptance in affected communities. Especially from the perspective of nature conservation targets, conflicts can arise. These potential differences are still under-researched but represent important knowledge for the societally broadly accepted design of such facilities and their contribution to energy transformation. In this paper, we investigate the perspectives of nature conservationists on PV in the region of Brandenburg, Germany. We comparatively analyse attitudes towards ground-mounted photovoltaics (GM-PV) and agrophotovoltaics (APV). APV combines energy supply and agricultural production on the same land and could thus be a possible solution for mitigating land-use conflicts.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>We investigated the degree of local acceptability and positive and negative influencing factors through a qualitative text analysis of ten interviews with local representatives and position papers by Nature Conservation Associations. Our findings show a growing consensus around basic assumptions of the need for renewable energies, the prioritised support for PV systems on rooftops over the installation on agricultural land (GM-PV and APV), and the necessity for PV systems to be compatible with nature conservation objectives. Regarding specific site decisions on agricultural land, we find diverging attitudes when comparing the content of position papers and the responses of interviewees. The interviewees advocate taking into account local interests and specific regional conditions, the effects of PV systems on the local environment, and the need for distributional justice. Large-scale plants are locally less accepted than smaller ones and there is a more open attitude towards the expansion of APV than of GM-PV on agricultural land. However, a range of concerns regarding consequences for landscape and biodiversity persists, and further research and clarification is required to address these issues.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>We conclude that basic ecological standards and the demands of local stakeholders and interest groups should be taken into account when planning, implementing and reviewing PV projects in the future.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00431-2","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139421440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The role of City Climate Networks in Promoting Citizen Participation in Municipalities: A Critical Multi-Case Analysis","authors":"Mateo Zapata Arango,&nbsp;Thomas Hoppe,&nbsp;Anatol Itten,&nbsp;Kornelis Blok","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00438-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00438-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>At the COP21, cities were recognised as key actors in combatting climate change. In supporting cities, climate city networks such as transnational climate networks (TCNs) and national climate networks (NCNs) have emerged to enable cities in building capacities and formulating climate policy whilst also encouraging citizen engagement and participation in public decision-making. This paper addresses the question whether and how TCN or NCN membership enables municipalities to implement citizen participation in public decision-making. Six propositions are presented addressing: presumed influence of TCN membership on citizen participation, organization of citizen participation, initiator capacity, goal setting, involvement of stakeholders, participatory methods used, and planning processes. A multi-case study research design is used to verify these propositions, comprising of four medium-sized cities in the Netherlands and three in Belgium.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Results of the analysis of four cities in The Netherlands show that municipalities having membership to climate city networks only to a low extent empower citizen participation via local climate agendas. Citizen participation emerges rather bottom-up via local initiatives or capacity building via EU framework programs—outside TCNs or NCNs—that better suit financial needs and provide more immediate benefits to municipalities. None of the six propositions were confirmed. A more positive image resulted from the Belgian cases that moderately confirmed four out of six propositions (i.e., organizing citizen participation, goal setting, selection of methods, and planning), and featured indirect empowerment via externally funded implementation projects following firm integration of participation in local climate policy through TCN influence.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>In terms of citizen participation selected municipalities in the Netherlands having TCN and/or NCN membership only to a small extent differ from those not having membership. This is partly due to poor implementation of TCNs and NCNs—with Covenant of Mayors and ‘Klimaatverbond’ lacking support structure and capacity—having lost importance during the past years. However, there is reason to believe that context makes a difference as revealed by the cases from Belgium, which revealed more positive results.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00438-9","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139422737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Germany is phasing out lignite: insights from the Coal Commission and local communities","authors":"Jörg Radtke,&nbsp;Martin David","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00434-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00434-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>This article asks the following question: how well are coal regions, affected by phase-out plans, represented in mediating commissions, to what extent do local communities participate in the decision-making process and how are the political negotiations perceived by the communities? We look at the case of the German lignite phase-out from a procedural justice perspective. Informed by literature on sociotechnical decline and procedural justice in energy transitions, we focus first on aspects of representation, participation and recognition within the German Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment (“Coal Commission”). Second, we analyze how to exnovate coal in two regions closely tied to the coal- and lignite-based energy history in Germany: Lusatia and the Rhenish Mining District.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Based on interview series in both regions, we connect insights from local communities with strategies for structural change and participation programs in the regions. We find significant differences between the two regions, which is primarily an effect of the challenging historical experiences in Lusatia. Participation within existing arrangements is not sufficient to solve these problems; they require a comprehensive strategy for the future of the regions.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>We conclude that the first phase-out process was a lost opportunity to initiate a community-inclusive sustainable transition process. As the phase-out process is not yet concluded, additional efforts and new strategies are needed to resolve the wicked problem of lignite phase-out.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00434-z","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139422692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Municipal heat provision experiences and expectations in Germany","authors":"Thomas Krikser,&nbsp;Melf-Hinrich Ehlers,&nbsp;Adriano Profeta","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00433-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00433-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Compared to other sectors, the building sector is seriously lagging in efforts to mitigate climate change. In particular, heat provision needs to move to low-carbon options at greater speed. Municipalities are essential players in the transition to low-carbon heating. However, little is known about their experiences in developing heat provision infrastructure and their expectations of low-carbon options, such as district heating based on renewable energy. To explore how the experiences and expectations of municipalities concerning low-carbon heating are related, we conducted a survey of officers responsible for heating technology in municipal authorities across Germany. The questionnaires were analysed using multiple quantitative data analysis techniques.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>Our findings suggest that officers in larger municipalities have more positive expectations of low-carbon heating technologies than those in smaller and medium-sized municipalities. They also have more experience with these technologies. We identified four different clusters of municipalities based on their attitudes towards heating systems. The findings suggest that attitudes and experiences have a significant influence on the desirability and expected feasibility of the expansion of district heating. Furthermore, there are differences between south, north, and east Germany.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Exchange of experiences and expectations between larger and smaller municipalities could facilitate the transition to low-carbon heating. Public policy could strategically provide spaces for the required exchange, but it also needs to engage with more complex questions of finance and regulation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00433-0","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139399903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Potential markets and policies for sustainable liquid biofuel production with emphasis to Eastern Africa countries: a review","authors":"Fekadu K. Miftah,&nbsp;Doris Mutta","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00428-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00428-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The production of liquid biofuel in Eastern Africa countries has the potential to play an important role on the global biofuel markets in the coming years, because transportation fuel demand is expected to grow. Despite the presence of suitable environmental conditions for bioenergy crop cultivation in Eastern Africa, liquid biofuel production has been restricted by different factors, including market situation and government policies. The objective of this review is to evaluate the potential markets, policies, strategies, and plans for liquid biofuel production in some Eastern Africa countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.</p><h3>Main text</h3><p>Over 64 scientific articles and reports published between 2002 and 2023 related to liquid biofuel production market and policies were collected from internet search engines and unpublished grey literatures and reviewed. Since liquid biofuel production was in early stage of investment in Eastern Africa countries by 2020, all the countries showed similar restrictions. It was found that the global market demand for liquid biofuel increased after 1980s. For example, although Ethiopia started bioethanol production in 1950s, the production was discouraged by the lack of a market. Biofuel trade is globally determined by the biofuel policies of industrialized countries, which are mainly driven by the willingness to reduce emissions and to tackle volatile fossil fuel prices. Eastern Africa liquid biofuels has a number of market openings, including rural domestic use, substituting fossil fuel imports, and supplying the European market. There are also attractive legal conditions and political willingness to invest in the production of liquid biofuels. However, institutional weaknesses hindered the possibility to coordinate liquid biofuel production. The lack of adequate domestic institutions, coordination mechanisms, and robust monitoring resulted in land-use conflicts, corruption, and technical challenges. Appropriate policy measures are required to local land use determination, selection of appropriate type of bioenergy crops, and biofuel processing types and scales. In particular, small and large-scale biofuel production projects are required to include biofuel production in the conventional agricultural farming practices.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Good governance is highly important for bioenergy crop production, liquid biofuel processing and consumption in the whole liquid biofuel value chain. Moreover, it is important to exchange good practices through cooperation, including—but not limited to—intra-African countries, which would accelerate the learning process and the deployment of effective measures and mechanisms. There should be biofuel value chain upgrading to overcome fragmentation and inconsistency of measures; match-making between demand and supply at domestic, intra-African, and internationally with proper public awareness creation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00428-x","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139078240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenges of the green transition for the recovery of the Western Balkans","authors":"Jelena Ignjatović,&nbsp;Sanja Filipović,&nbsp;Mirjana Radovanović","doi":"10.1186/s13705-023-00421-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13705-023-00421-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The aim of this paper is to reconsider the necessity for the green transition and the key preconditions for the implementation of a circular economy in Western Balkan countries. With the objective of the research in mind, the method of analysis and synthesis was applied to determine (1) regulatory and institutional prerequisites for the green transition; (2) the need for the Western Balkan countries to redefine the model of sustainable economic growth towards the green transition; (3) the development opportunities for recovery defined in the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans; and (4) the possibility of implementing the circular economy in the Western Balkans.</p><h3>Main text</h3><p>The main findings of the research indicate that: (1) the countries of the Western Balkan region, following the example of the EU, should define a national strategic approach to the green transition with an accompanying action plan and regulatory framework; (2) the biggest challenge of the green transition is the reform of the energy sector and the restructuring of the energy-intensive economy; (3) the countries have untapped potential in renewable energy sources and report the improvement of energy efficiency; (4) the circular economy can boost the green transition, because the countries of the region have a five-time lower value of resource productivity than the average of the EU, while the generation of waste (excluding major mineral wastes) per GDP unit is lower compared to the EU; (5) cross-sectoral governance should be more coordinated.</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The green transition might be a development opportunity for the Western Balkans, which should enable sustainable economic growth as well as energy security and environmental protection. However, the implementation of the Green Agenda is not easy, because the region faces the problem of underdeveloped regulatory and institutional capacities that might provide not only the base for long-term planning but also financial resources for the efficient implementation of projects. In addition, it is essential to understand the principles of the Green Agenda and the interaction of all activities that should enable the achievement of defined goals.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":539,"journal":{"name":"Energy, Sustainability and Society","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://energsustainsoc.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s13705-023-00421-4","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139078357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}